Harper welcomes Agriculture Champions announcement

> SNP MSP for the South of Scotland Emma Harper has welcomed the announcement by the Scottish Government of the appointment of four Agriculture Champions to advise on the development of a strategy for the sector.
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> The Agriculture Champions will help develop an Agriculture Strategy to guide the long-term sustainable future for Scottish agriculture, by increasing profitability and boosting innovation, production and sustainability.
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> Each Champion will be paired across four themes:
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> • Education and Training Champion – Henry Graham, Scottish Chair of Lantra
> • Food and Drink Champion – Archie Gibson, Chair of the Scottish Food and Drink Federation
> • Sustainability Champion – John Kinnaird, Farmer and Former President of NFUS
> • Public Value Champion – Marion MacCormick, Buying Director for ALDI
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> The announcement was made by Fergus Ewing at a Farming and Food Summit in Edinburgh.
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> Emma said:
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> “I think the new Agricultural Champions are a great idea and will really help us develop a strategy for the long term sustainable future of our agriculture.
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> “Of course, we can’t ignore the wider political and economic implications of leaving the European Single Market. Agriculture and food production are particularly reliant upon our continued access to free movement of labour and wider EU support.
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> “It looks increasingly likely the UK Government has set its sights on a hard Brexit, with all of the problems that is likely to involve for agriculture and food production, so it makes sense for us to be looking at how we build strong relationships between Scotland’s producers and their markets and how we meet the challenges Brexit will pose the industry.”
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